Venice Film Festival 2026 Winners: Woman Unknown Takes the Golden Lion

Woman Unknown, directed by the Danish-Egyptian filmmaker May el-Toukhy, a post-war psychological thriller. It was one of only two films directed by women in the 2026 competition. Sources: Screen Daily, IndieWire, Variety.

Golden Lion: Woman Unknown (May el-Toukhy). Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize: Possible Love (Lee Chang-dong). Silver Lion for best director: Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Dau. Volpi Cup best actress: Mathilde Arcel, Woman Unknown. Volpi Cup best actor: John Malkovich, Wild Horse Nine. Special Jury Prize: NAZA (Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor). Golden Osella for screenplay: A Good Little Soldier. Marcello Mastroianni award: Malou Khebizi, A Place To Heal. Sources: Screen Daily, Variety.

John Malkovich took the Volpi Cup for best actor for Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, and Mathilde Arcel won best actress for Woman Unknown, the same film that took the Golden Lion. Sources: Variety, Screen Daily.

I Matter, directed by Alina Serban. The audience prize regularly diverges from the jury's choices and is often a better predictor of a film's commercial life than the Golden Lion. Source: Screen Daily.

Best film: Diane In The Loop (Ann Sirot and Raphael Balboni). Best director: Jacqueline Lentzou for A Day In The Life Of Jo: Chapter Phaedra. Best actress: Laleh Marzban, Falling House. Best actor: Riccardo Scamarcio, The Children Of The Monkey. Special Jury Prize: House Of The Wind (Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu). Source: Screen Daily.

George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn, both awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Source: La Biennale.

The international competition jury was presided over by the American filmmaker and actor Maggie Gyllenhaal. The awards were announced at the closing ceremony on September 12. Sources: La Biennale, Variety.

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs from Wednesday, September 2 to Saturday, September 12, 2026, on the Lido di Venezia. As usual it is the first major stop of the fall awards season, just ahead of Toronto. Source: La Biennale.

Ink, directed by Danny Boyle, opens the festival. The film dramatizes the early days of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, centered on his acquisition of the British tabloid The Sun. It is one of the most politically charged opening-night picks Venice has made in years. Sources: La Biennale, IndieWire.

Dio Ride, written and directed by Giovanni Veronesi, closes the 83rd edition. It screens out of competition at the end of the festival, before the awards are announced on September 12. Source: La Biennale.

Jack O'Connell plays Sun editor Larry Lamb, Guy Pearce plays Rupert Murdoch and Claire Foy plays Jules Davies. Danny Boyle directs from a screenplay by James Graham, adapted from Graham's own Tony-nominated play. It screens on September 2 in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema. Sources: Deadline, Screen Daily.

Netflix picked up the film ahead of its Venice world premiere, so it goes to the platform rather than a wide theatrical run. No streaming date has been announced. Sources: Deadline, IndieWire.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, the actress turned writer-director of The Lost Daughter, presides over the main competition jury. The panel includes Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, English composer Daniel Blumberg, Italian film scholar Francesco Casetti, French director Xavier Giannoli, Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat and Hong Kong director Johnnie To. Source: La Biennale.

A stacked slate: Luca Guadagnino, Martin McDonagh, Wim Wenders, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Werner Herzog, Paul Schrader, Nanni Moretti, Lee Chang-dong, Lav Diaz, Tsai Ming-liang, Laura Poitras, Julia Loktev, Mariano Llinás, Danny Boyle and more. The full selection was announced by the Biennale in late July 2026. Sources: La Biennale, The Film Stage, IndieWire.

George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn both receive honorary Golden Lions for lifetime achievement. Clooney has a long Venice history, from Gravity to The Tender Bar, while Burstyn's award crowns a six-decade career from The Last Picture Show and The Exorcist to Requiem for a Dream. Source: La Biennale.

At the 2025 edition, the Golden Lion went to Jim Jarmusch's Father Mother Sister Brother. Venice has become a reliable Oscar launchpad: recent editions premiered eventual best-picture heavyweights and acting winners, which is why studios fight for its early-September slots. Sources: La Biennale, Variety.

Yes. Unlike Cannes, Venice sells tickets to the public for most screenings, including competition premieres on the Lido. Tickets go on sale via the Biennale's official site in the days before the festival, and accreditation covers industry, press and film-club categories. Source: La Biennale.

On the Lido di Venezia, the barrier island facing Venice, mainly in and around the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi. The festival, founded in 1932, is the oldest film festival in the world and part of the Venice Biennale. Source: La Biennale.

Because its early-September slot launches the awards season. Films that premiere on the Lido dominate fall conversation, and several recent best-picture winners started there. A strong Venice reception, or a long standing ovation, has become an early Oscar signal that studios engineer deliberately. Sources: Variety, IndieWire.

For evening premieres in the Sala Grande, black tie is the norm on the red carpet, though the festival is less rigid than Cannes about enforcement. Daytime screenings are casual. The Venice carpet has also become one of fashion's biggest moments of the year, with celebrity arrivals by water taxi. Sources: La Biennale, Vogue.

The competition is auteur-heavy. Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, a black comedy with John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi set among CIA officers on Easter Island before the 1973 Chilean coup. Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard, casting real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara. Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love, his first feature since Burning. Hirokazu Kore-eda's Look Back, a live-action manga adaptation. Florian Zeller's Bunker, with Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Stephen Graham and Paul Dano. Casey Affleck's Company, a 1970s gothic mystery with Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn. And Lance Oppenheim's Primetime, with Robert Pattinson. Sources: Screen Daily, Euronews, World of Reel.

At the closing ceremony on Saturday, September 12, 2026, the final evening of the festival. The jury led by Maggie Gyllenhaal hands out the Golden Lion for best film, then the awarded titles are screened again on the closing day. Source: La Biennale.

The Golden Lion for best film, the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Lion for best director, the Coppa Volpi for best actress and best actor, the best screenplay award, the Special Jury Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for a young performer. Separate juries handle Orizzonti, the debut-feature Lion of the Future and the short film competition. Source: La Biennale.

The competition slate alone brings John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Paul Dano, Stephen Graham, Robert Pattinson, Kate and Rooney Mara, Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn. Add Guy Pearce for the Danny Boyle opener, and George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn collecting honorary Golden Lions. Sources: La Biennale, Screen Daily, IndieWire.

Not in the main competition. He brings a seven-hour documentary about Bernardo Bertolucci to the festival, one of the more unusual entries of the edition, screening outside the Golden Lion race. Sources: World of Reel, Screen Daily.

The festival itself is not streamed: the films screen on the Lido and, in some cases, in Italian cinemas at the same time. What the Biennale does publish on its official channels are press conference videos, photo galleries and the awards ceremony coverage, and the red carpet arrivals are widely carried by news and entertainment outlets. The competition titles then reach cinemas and streaming platforms over the following months. Source: La Biennale.